Navi Mumbai airport by March 2020, land acquisition for refinery on hold

We have identified the land, but there are certain concerns. We have put that land on hold, but we are in active consultation, Devendra Fadnavis said

Two key projects in Maharashtra are facing local resistance. While the state government has put land acquisition for an oil refinery project on hold, it is hopeful that work on the Navi Mumbai airport would be completed by March 2020. 

“The concessionaire (for Navi Mumbai Airport project) has said one runway and one terminal building will be completed by 2019. There are certain challenges. It may take three-four months more. It should be ready by March 2020,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a press briefing on Monday. 

Fadnavis was sharing updates on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s four years of state governance in Maharashtra with mediapersons. 

The Navi Mumbai airport has been in the offing for more than a decade and was finally awarded to GVK Power & Infrastructure for development and operations in October last year. While the chief minister is confident about the project timeline, the project has been facing local resistance in terms of rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected people. 

The Maharashtra government is also facing local protests over the identified location for the proposed West Coast refinery. Amid local protests, Fadnavis said the identified land for the project has been put on hold. “We have identified the land, but there are certain concerns.  We have put that land on hold, but we are in active consultation,” he said.

Amid concerns of the project’s impact on agriculture and fishery, land acquisition for the refinery hit a roadblock. The chief minister added the government is sure of developing the West Coast refinery. However, it will be done through consultation with the people involved and not by force.

The state government will have to walk a thin line between the Centre’s ambitions for the Rs 3-trillion refinery project and the elections at the Centre and state.  

The proposed refinery is to be jointly developed by the three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and Indian Oil Corporations - in partnership with Saudi Aramco, which is expected to pick 50 per cent stake in the Rs 3-trillion project. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the three OMCs was signed in December 2016, but has failed to see any development so far.

On the 3,843 MoUs signed at the Magnetic Maharashtra summit held in February this, the state government said investment worth Rs 18.34 billion was made involving 286 MoUs signed. Another Rs 213.21 billion worth investments for 391 MoUs were under progress, and 2,005 proposals worth Rs 382.79 billion were at a preliminary stage. 

The state’s land woes are not limited to its refinery and airport projects. India’s ambition bullet train project, which connects Mumbai to Ahmedabad, has similar issues. The chief minister added land acquisition for the project is under way.